23 JULY 1921, Page 23

READABLE NOVELS.—Kimono. By John Paris. (Collins. 78.6d. net.)—The story of

an Anglo-Japanese marriage. Tho main interest of the book. lies in the vivid and terrible picture it presents of the underworld of heathen, semi-civilized Tokyo. In order to produce the notable effects which he achieves, how- ever, the author condescends to employ an amount of lurid and unsavoury detail which inevitably detracts from the otherwise considerable merits of tho book.—Romances in Red. By Agnes and Egerton Castle. (Hodder and Stoughton. 8s. 6d. net.)—It has long since become a matter of difficulty to be original on the topic of the French Revolution. Ii these stories show signs of effort in this direction, many of them have, notwith- standing, sufficient colour and intensity to compensate for their • The Dragon in Shallow Waters. By Y. fiackville-West. London . CoWU. L7s. 6d. net.) conventional tendency.—Gildereleeves. By E. M. Wilmot- Buxton. (Sands. 8s. 6d. not.)—It seems unlikely that the experiences of Margaret Alison, a junior mistress in a high school for girls, here chronicled are typical. It is sincerely to be hoped they are not. In any ease, and when all is said and done, any verdict on the book must involve a condemnation of human nature rather than of the high school system, even as exem- plified at Gildersleeves.